One of the great tragedies, or at least inconveniences, in life is not being able to choose who you’re attracted to. You like who you like, but damn Harima, Tenma? How can you just not see the awesomeness of Eri? Or anyone else in the show not named Tenma for that matter. At least his blindness for anyone other than Tenma is good for comedy and School Rumble: 2nd Semester.

I love that picture above, since it gives a lot of information. I also like the picture below of the girls in swimwear as it knows who to show big and who to show small, but enough lust over 2D characters and potshots at Tenma. Actually, while there is some fan service in School Rumble, I didn’t find it particularly heavy in it, it’s more confined to certain episodes than being present throughout from what I recall, though I’ve been told in the past I’ve been way-way off in my assessment how much fan service a show has. Considering the type of blog I run, I imagine it’s easy for me to be off on that.

The second season of School Rumble is a lot like the first season, which to me is a good thing. One of the ways School Rumble stays interesting over the 50+ episodes I’ve seen so far is the way a steady stream of new characters flow into the mix without a whole lot of extra fuss. There’s really no time for elaborate introductions in School Rumble to establish new characters. In a lot of shows, new characters bring everything to a grinding halt as a lot of undue attention is placed on them for being new and having to resolve their thread. In School Rumble, these new characters have sort of been there all along, but were unnoticed until relevant to what is happening on screen or don’t make the show about them upon their arrival even if they are getting a good bit of screen time, so the fun stuff keeps rumbling along.

I think there is a tendency in the second season of School Rumble to break from comedy a little more often than the first season. It’s still mostly a breakneck comedy thing, but there are a number of segments that are quiet slices. What makes these moments better is most of them aren’t meant for you to weep over, rather more of a nodding your head and understanding. Eri has some good moments in these, which is probably where she gets her fanbase from, the feelings of conflict and entrapment most anyone can relate to or remember, at least, that’s what does it for me. Many characters, even minor ones, get these moments, these secrets in passing. I find it’s done in such a way that it rarely intrudes on the intentionally funny parts and often leads into them. It makes the absurd humor even funnier and gives enough to like the characters beyond their ability to carry a laugh.

Like many series that go on for a bit, School Rumble is guilty of wrecking any of the small progresses that are made in order to tease the viewer along a bit longer. It might piss some people off, but I don’t mind this at all as long as it’s worth being teased. It does so well, piling on every cheap trick out there. Many shows tend to go downhill once the two main interests get together anyway, so sidestepping the trap is fine. The parodies in the second season are a real treat as they throw everything into it, breaking rules, continuity, and taking no prisoners. It’s so good, it’s forgiven.

After watching the first two seasons of School Rumble, it’s a Top 10 show for me. I still want more of it. Harima is such a great loser character, kind of like an Onizuka type loser. While it looked like Tenma is supposed to be the main character, at least at the beginning it appears that way, what makes the show is Harima. School Rumble starts out okay and gets great when it seems to understand partway through the first season that Harima is what makes the show.

Funimation Localization Notes

The Brina Palencia directed dub is fantastic. Varied and distinct characterization from the actors, and since it is a bit loose in literal translation, it nails School Rumble perfect-like. Funimation’s version of Lara…priceless, but I think just about everyone of the established characters is on and the leads awesome. The dub track made me enjoy School Rumble as much as I did. There’s a lot of shows where either language track is more of a component than an integral part of the show, where any professional language track or cast configuration wouldn’t change my experience all that much. The School Rumble dub goes beyond that and is an integral part of why I love this show.

Extras are pretty sparse, probably par for the course these days, since well Funimation’s season sets are now pretty much the course. But hey, a licensed product, superbly dubbed, I’ll take it.

18 responses to “Harima, WTF!?”

I still think the second season lacks compared to the first, and the third (OVA) was just a rushed finish, which was disappointing. Still the second season did contain laughs. It started off well, but it ended up rather “meh”.

I enjoyed the second season a lot more simply because there was more of Eri. I never understood the Harima X Tenma pairing since there’s sooo much more chemistry between Harima and Eri or even Yakumo. The screen just lights up whenever Eri and Harima interacts whereas Harima X Tenma bits are mostly childish misunderstandings / running gags that distract from real development.

Funnily enough, I didn’t think there was that much fanservice either. Maybe it’s subtle, or maybe it’s just produced with neither the kind of relish of a properly ecchi show, nor the glee of Najica/Aika &c.

Already on my buy list. I’m just waiting for our local distributor to completely finish releasing the 2nd season so I can get both seasons in one go.
I appreciate good dub series. If it’s a good dub then it’s worth my money. ^^

Personally I enjoyed the second season quite a bit more, for the simple fact that Tenma is moved to a secondary role and the series focuses on Harima’s misadventures. The Tenma gags can be funny, but is the kind of humor that for me, gets old very fast. Harima’s gags are more about his inability to handle situations, rather than focusing on the character’s stupidity (Tenma).

Re: fanservice. It is there, but done very intelligently. It is used in the right places and the right quantity to make the characters more appealing, while never showing too much. For me, the fact that the series never relied on cheap or blatant underwear shots was very refreshing, especially for romantic comedy. I prefer fanservice as a spice, not the main dish.

There’s something I really like about Jin Kibayashi’s style, especially in the eyes and character’s expressions.

SchoolRumble is in my Top10 List aswell.
Harima makes the show and one of my favorite anime girls is from school rumble.
Its a really fun show that manages to stay funny even when it throws in a more “serious” story.Just stay away from the san gakki OVAs.They are the typical i want to keep an open door ending thing

Yeah, I don’t think my fan service meter even registers unless it’s near Najica levels. Pretty much agrees with Seiken on the service. Like in the scene with Eri in Miko’s bath…was a nod to the fanboys while being very descriptive on how she feels.

“great tragedies, or at least inconveniences, life is not being in control of who you’re attracted to”

Err… why would you want to CONTROL the person you’re attracted to? I would rather have that person roam free with happiness than being stuck with me in depression. I believe that we should all respect that person’s choices and preferences – if that person just doesn’t see anything in you that he/she is impressed with, than that’s not his/her problem.

It’s meant in the sense of being unable to choose who you are attracted to, rather than the reading you got, which I hadn’t even considered as coming off that way — yikes! You can’t really decide to be attracted to someone you aren’t attracted to.

Somehow i love all seasons. However, much due to the appearance of Eri. Yes, I love Eri (and Mikoto). Unfortunately, the OVA isn’t well done. Lots of WOW scenes are not included. D= Season 1 and 2 are nice. ^.^

I liked season1, but season 2(2nd half) was a disaster for me. Not that I dislike romance, but I think they didn’t pull it off well in S2. S3, after hearing all the bad stuff, I didnt bother watching it lol.